


Her Weakness

by izzyb



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-01
Updated: 2009-12-01
Packaged: 2017-10-09 18:58:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/90493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izzyb/pseuds/izzyb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her father had thought her weak.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Her Weakness

**Author's Note:**

> "Never apologize and never explain, it's a sign of weakness" for the [drabble fest](http://community.livejournal.com/where_no_woman/54206.html#cutid1) at where_no_woman.

Her father had thought her weak when she entered the world, took one look at her squirming body and scrunched-up wailing face and had declared that she be tried, pushed, toughened. No child of his would have to prove herself to anyone but him—there would be no public combat to the death for his daughter's worth.

When she was all of three, he dropped her into the river nearest their home to see if she could survive, could swim even though she had never been taught. She floundered desperately for a few minutes before she heard the clear tone of her mother's voice. Seconds later, she was dragged to the surface, sputtering and crying and clinging tightly to the enraged woman.

"Why, Ranek? Why do you despise her so much?"

He wouldn't answer her though, at least not in Mandana's hearing, and later, when she was older, her mother tired to explain it to her, saying that he was of the belief that you either sink or swim. You never explain, never answer to anyone but yourself.

When she met Nero, she was tough, she thought, an equal in all ways. Her years in the military and the years before that under her father's tutelage made her that way and she was glad for it.

They literally ran into one another on the streets of Ki Baratan while she was distracted by the new sights and sounds of the capital city and he was distracted by her.

He eyed her up and down as they broke apart from the unintentional embrace, taking in her pressed uniform and meticulously clean hands, startling in the humidity of the day in their capital city of Ki Baratan, in direct contrast to the dirt littering his skin and the sweat dripping from his forehead.

Her father's dictate echoed in her ear, warning her, but she didn't heed it. Instead, she said it. "I apologize." And then she smiled.


End file.
